The search results for Puerta La Cruz numbered over 400,000 results. After ten minutes of scrolling through a seemingly endless list of incidents in the coastal Venezuelan city, Tom paused and leaned back in his chair.
What the hell am I doing? he asked himself. He was poking blindly for a connection to a man he knew nothing about, and for whom he obviously had no evidence of being a criminal – let alone a terrorist. Why was he even suspicious? Because of what some drunken old man had told him at the bar? Admittedly, there was something about the older man that Tom had found persuasive, and yet the absurdity of it was obvious. A terrorist? Terrorists were maniacal, remorseless extremists that killed innocent people and disappeared into the shadows. Terrorists sent bombs in the mail, not letters. Terrorists didn’t write love letters. And even if they did, certainly no terrorist would write love letters to a bartender in fucking Flagstaff Arizona.
The more Tom considered it, the more ridiculous the idea sounded. He leaned forward to close the search engine on his laptop, but paused as he glanced at the name written on his notepad.
Petronus
He stared at the name for a moment. What did he know about Petronus Energy? On a whim, Tom typed the name into the search engine and clicked on the first link in the results. Almost immediately a friendly looking corporate website appeared. Filling the screen was an image of a handsome young couple with two kids standing in a large grassy field. Across the bottom of the image, the words “Tomorrow’s energy today” were written in large type next to the company’s logo. Tom scrolled past the image and stopped at the company’s mission statement.
Clean energy. It’s the dream of every environmentally-conscious energy company, and the driving force behind everything we do at Petronus Energy. From responsibly using fossil fuels to tirelessly searching for new sources of clean, viable energy, Petronus Energy is dedicated to the passionate pursuit of delivering tomorrow’s energy today.
Learn more about our mission, our environmental policies, and our global operations.
Tom clicked on the ‘global operations’ link. A new page immediately opened displaying a large world map. He looked at it with surprise. Each continent with the exception of Antartica was covered in a myriad of pulsing red dots. As his cursor moved over one of the dots, a small window appeared with the name and image of a company facility along with a brief summary of the operational details.
After scrolling over a few locations, it was clear to Tom that Petronus Energy was a major multinational corporation, operating everything from oil rigs and refineries to research laboratories and corporate campuses.
Looking closer at the Middle Eastern area of the map, Tom noticed that Saudi Arabia was saturated with red dots. He moved his cursor over several and quickly found Al Jubail. Again a small window popped up next to the location. Tom scanned the summary and immediately realized the city was a major operational hub for Petronus Energy, containing the company’s largest petrochemical processing facility and the primary Middle Eastern office.
Going back to the top of his list, Tom next turned his attention to India. A brief search of the northeastern corner of the country revealed another major Petronus Energy operation in Guwahati. “Isn’t that interesting,” Tom muttered to himself as he scrolled over the African country of Nigeria. To his surprise, Port Harcourt also turned out to be home to several of the company’s drilling operations. Excited by this emerging pattern, he quickly investigated the last city on the list. A moment later, Tom leaned back in his chair and smiled.
Petronus Energy had operations in every city on his list.
Whatever this mysterious letter-writer was doing, it seemed to be linked to the large petroleum company. So what are you up to? Tom wondered as he picked up his pen and slowly circled the name Petronus written on his notepad.
Simplifying his earlier approach, Tom typed “Guwahati September” into the search engine, this time adding the word “Petronus”. The first page of results flashed in front of him. As he read the second headline on the list, Tom’s pulse immediately quickened.
“Petronus Researcher killed in accident”
Tom clicked on the link and a British news site immediately filled the screen. A large image of a busy city street corner appeared above the brief article.
September 28
Guwahati, India – The collision of two vehicles at a busy intersection resulted in the death of a 31 year-old Italian man this evening after unidentified materials in one of the vehicles caught fire and quickly consumed both vehicles. Marcello Avogadro, a chemical engineer employed by Petronus Energy, was traveling in one of the vehicles, a motorized rickshaw called a tuk-tuk, near the Bamunimaidan market when the accident occurred.